Cursed: Jefferson's Story
by SuperOnceUponAWhoLock
Summary: AU set in the in the same world as Breaking The Hatter and The Ties That Bind Us. Takes place from the first day Regina brings everyone to Storybrooke up until Emma shows up with her little yellow bug. Explains how Jefferson dealt with Regina's punishment, his conflicting realities, and ghosts from his past. OTP's MadQueen, Halice, Jefferson/Aurora as well as Mad Whale Brotp
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One – Day One**

_He had gotten the antidote from Regina's vault and rushed back to Rumple's Tower Room, dropping down to his knees he took Aurora up on to his lap. He uncorked the potion bottle and brought it up to Aurora's mouth and tipped it so some of the liquid fell into her mouth. She choked on the liquid, spiting some of it up. _

"_No, you have to drink it, come on Aurora." He whispered before he carefully placed the bottle beside him and lifted her higher into a sitting position; with her now leaning back against his chest she was at a better angle to drink the potion, without spitting too much of the liquid up. _

Jefferson kicked at the sheets in as he moved uncomfortably in his bed.

"_No "Open your eyes!" He demanded, giving Aurora's face a light slap. "Aurora, Come on Rory! Damn it! Open your eyes I need you to open your eyes." He was pleading to her. "I don't understand the potion it should have worked by now." _

Jefferson rolled over gripping one of his pillows tightly.

"_I am sorry, Aurora I should have been back to dinner sooner. I wasted time getting that stupid flying carpet because I thought you would think it was interesting and it would make my story better. I should have…" His voice broke the tears finally falling down his cheeks. "Come on Aurora." He pleaded. "I got what you needed now I just need you to just open your eyes…" _

"_Father?" Aurora whispered out loud._

"No Rory, your father is dead." Jefferson buried his face into his pillow.

"_If you are seeing a light don't go anywhere near it." He told Aurora as he repositioned her in his arms. "Come on open your eyes."_

"_I love you mother." Aurora muttered in his arms._

"No!" Jefferson called out as he rolled over on to his back.

"_Aurora, stop talking to your parents and open your eyes and talk to me!" He hugged her close rocking slightly with her in his arms. _

"_Goodbye." Aurora whispered._

"_No! This isn't goodbye, come on, come on Aurora." His voiced cracked as he let his tears fall._

"Wake up." Jefferson muttered as he gripped the sheets of his bed. "Aurora!" He yelled waking up in his bed covered in a cold sweat. He sat up looking around his room.

"Where am I this isn't… right. This isn't my bedroom. It's too neat, where are all the hats?" He looked around the bedroom. "This isn't my cottage." He got out of his bed and looked out his window. "I am on the second floor? My house didn't have a second floor in Wonderland." He looked down towards the valley and the little town which was nestled in between the forest. "And that town looks far too normal to be in Wonderland."

Jefferson shook his head realizing what he was saying. "Wonderland…what man…" He wiped some of the sleep out of his eyes. "What was I dreaming?"

He took in the room noticing the clock which read 8:15. To the side of the clock lay the book, _Through The Looking Glass_. "Well that explains why I was thinking I would think I was in Wonderland. But what all was I dreaming? Potions, flying carpets, and there isn't an Aurora in that story, it's Alice."

_You couldn't save Alice either_, a voice in the back of his head whispered. He paused looking down at the book. "I need some caffeine and to really wake up."

He started down the hall but he thought he heard a noise coming from the last room on the right of the hallway. There shouldn't be anyone in the guest room. He thought as he leaned against the door trying to listen.

"_Papa's going to be any minute. I just know it. He said he will be home for tea."_ He heard a little girl's voice.

_How did a little girl get in here?_ He wondered as he started to open the door.

"_Mr. Rabbit would you like more tea."_ He heard the little girl's voice ask.

The room was dark the only light was coming from the hallway. _The room doesn't look right._ Jefferson thought as he opened the door wider. There were homemade toys and small table set up like a tea party, but as the light from the hallway touched the objects they disappeared, replaced with a very modern and clean looking guest room.

Jefferson switched on the light and the room looked like it was supposed to. It was just a simple guest room. He walked into the room turning around in a circle. There was no sign of the toys, the girl, or the tea party she had been having.

"I really need to stop reading so late at night." He snapped the pages on the paperback book. "A good cup of tea will clear my head from that messed up nightmare I had."

* * *

Jefferson had made his tea and had just settled into his spot at the kitchen table when the phone rang.

With a slight huff of annoyance he got out of the chair and made his way over to the telephone on the wall. It was an old fashion Victorian style phone. _Victor would love this phone, though it would be black and white in this world, not lovely shade of mahogany and gold._ He paused a moment, _Wait who is Victor?_ He massaged his temple a moment trying to place the person he was thinking about, before he picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

A woman's voice on the other end asked. "Jefferson, I didn't wake you did I?"

"No, Regina." He smiled. "I was just making a cup of tea."

"Tea!" She laughed. "That is so you, good to see some things never change."

"Are you able to stop by this morning? Should I put extra water in the kettle?"

"No, I have other things to deal with this morning." She chuckled like she had made a joke.

"Yes being Mayor keeps you busy. You should make sure you are not over doing it."

"How nice of you to care Jefferson, but I ensure you I am feeling wonderful this morning. Everything has gone as planned. How are you feeling this morning?"

"I…" He thought about telling her about his morning, but something was holding him back. "I am feeling fine. Are we still on for tonight?"

"If you mean dinner, of course my dear Jefferson. I wouldn't miss if for all the world." She laughed again. "Enjoy your day."

"Of course Madam Mayor, see you later tonight."

* * *

Jefferson had finished his tea, and still felt a bit groggy so he went back upstairs to shower. He didn't notice anything was different until he was washing his neck. His fingers went over a thick scar. He pulled back the shower curtain to try to see it in the mirror, but the mirror was fogged over by the steam from the shower.

He finished washing, turned off the water and he threw back the curtain. He grabbed a towel and dried off his hair really quick with it before wrapping it around his body. He stepped out on the tile grabbing the hand towel by the sink to wipe off the mirror. He stood there starting at the ugly scar that ran the whole way across his neck. His fingers went up on both sides of his neck following it around to the back.

"Does it go the whole way around?"

_You know it does_. A voice in the back of his head whispered to him.

"How the hell did I get a scar like this?" He wondered out loud as he tried to see the back of his neck.

His wet feet slipped on the tile and he fell back hitting his head on the tub, as images flashed before his eyes.

"_If I tell you will you let me go home to my daughter?" He asked_

_The man laughed and the Queen of Hearts whispered "Off with his head."_

"Daughter? Off with my head…" He shook his head sitting up muttering. "No. no. no…" as he rubbed the back of his head. "That isn't possible. I don't have a daughter. And if I lost my head in Wonderland I would be dead."

_You know that isn't how things work in Wonderland._ That voice in the back of his head whispered as he stood back up in front of the mirror.

"Wonderland isn't real." Jefferson told himself as he opened the medicine cabinet looking for something for his headache. He saw three different medicine bottles.

He picked up the first one. Thiamine, Jefferson Jones was printed on the label, prescribed by Dr. James Whale. "Doctor Whale…" He looked over the other two bottles. "Antidepressants and Anti-anxiety meds…" All with his name and the same Doctor, he placed them back on the shelf closing the mirror.

He stood looking in the mirror trying to recall this Doctor Whale, when he noticed a young man standing behind him, only his coloring was off, like he was only shades of gray. Jefferson stood there. "I know you."

"_Of course you do Jeff. Just like you know those pills are not going to make you feel better."_

"Victor…" Jefferson turned around to face him but the man was gone. He leaned back heavily against the sink shaking his head at the empty room. He brought a hand up to his forehead rubbing his temple. "Thiamine is for confusion… I am having problems deciding what is real and what isn't. Wonderland, a daughter, Aurora, and Victor… these things aren't real." He turned back taking the Thiamine bottle out of the cabinet. He popped the lid and took one of the pills.

He closed his eyes trying to focus on what was real_. Why do I have this scar? Why do I have to take these pills? What caused it?_

"The accident." He opened his eyes wide with fear. "Dear God how could I forget about that night." Jefferson stumbled over to sit on the toilet taking his head in his hands as he recalled that night.

_He had been driving and Regina had been in the passenger seat. They had just come from a party and they had both had a bit more to drink then they should have. He had been fooling around with one hand on the steering wheel and the other trying to work its way under Regina's skirt, not wanting to wait until they got home to start the fun. _

_He hadn't seen the wolf in the middle of the road until it was too late. He had hit the brakes and swerved but he had lost control of the vehicle, right before the bridge. The car had clipped the side of the bridge before going airborne and landed on its side. _

_I didn't have my seat belt on and I hit the windshield._ "No I went through the windshield. Regina she pulled me back inside the car right before it fell off the embankment into the river." He paused remembering hitting the cold water and flash of blonde hair.

"Aurora." He whispered. "No… It was Regina in the water… who the hell is Aurora?" He wondered as he moved to take the other two pill bottles from the cabinet.

* * *

"Why do you keep looking at me like that Jefferson?" Regina asked putting her dirty napkin on her empty plate.

"Because I can't remember the last time I saw you smile like you have tonight." Jefferson lowered his own napkin on to his plate.

"You always did enjoy my smile didn't you?"

"You are always beautiful, but your smile, it just intensifies it." He gave her a small sad smile. "Though I am surprised you cut your beautiful hair."

"You don't like it?" Regina pouted.

"I never said that." He flashed her a smile. "I have to say I love your new look you seem to have going on."

"Well I do have to admit I love my new wardrobe." Her smiled brighten as she remembered waking up this morning in Storybrooke and seeing all of her hard work finally paying off.

"You were right on the phone this morning. You must have had an amazing day to be smiling like that."

Regina's smile widen even more "You have no idea." Her fingers drummed on the table top.

"Why don' you tell me about it?"

"I finally got my revenge on someone who has been trying to ruin my life."

Jefferson laughed. "Ruin your life? Regina you always were so dramatic, you have the prefect life here. You wouldn't have been elect if everyone didn't love you."

"Yes, I know, I was unopposed." Regina corrected him.

"Oh I am so sorry, you are so hated you ran unopposed." Jefferson teased flashing a toothy grin at her.

"Tease me all you want Jefferson but it was still nice seeing this person get put in their place today."

"Well now I want to know who this person is? It's a small town, and I can't imagine who it could be. Maybe I will come down to town tomorrow…" Jefferson paused a moment seeing Regina's smile change and take on a more wicked glow for a moment. "I could meet you for lunch at Granny's. You can point this evil mastermind out."

"I have a meeting with Graham over lunch tomorrow."

"Don't you mean Sheriff Graham?" Jefferson corrected her raising an eyebrow at her wondering what exactly was going on with her and him.

"Yes Sheriff Graham." She stood up and took his and her plates into the kitchen.

Jefferson followed her leaning against the frame he crossed his arms and watched her a moment, before quietly asking. "Regina when are you going to move back in here?"

She turned surprised at his question. "You want me to move back in?"

"Yes, I am insanely jealous of you down there in that stupid little town all day." He started to move closer to her as he talked. "I miss being the one who makes you smile like you have been doing all night."

Regina blushed. "I don't know about me moving back…" She turned back around to the sink.

"You don't want to move back in but you are willing to do my dishes?" He teased as he filled the little bit of space between them, slipping up behind her as she rinsed the dishes off.

"Just cleaning up. You seem to be having a good day, too. It is good to see you looking well again. Maybe Doctor Whale has finally found a good set of mediation for you to take."

"Yes… Maybe" Jefferson pulled back slightly at her comment remembering what he had seen and heard earlier.

"You did cook a delicious meal, so I thought why leave you the dishes." Regina reached for a sponge.

"The dishes can wait, I on the other hand can't." He kissed her neck as he leaned over her to stop the water. "I can't remember the last time I woke up with you by my side. It feels like it has been years."

"I can't spend the night." She whispered her eyes closed as she enjoyed Jefferson lips at her neck and his fingers brushing up under her blouse, for it had been years since she had been able to enjoy such pleasures.

"That maybe true, Madam Mayor but please let me try to convince you otherwise."

With a cat like grin Regina turned around to face him and met his kiss.

**Note: The complete nightmare at the start of the chapter can be found in my story The Ties That Bind Us Chapter 21**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two – Day Two **

_His travel bag fell past him hitting the water below him. He clung on to the tree branch. Aurora cried out for him as Maleficent came up behind grabbing her sharply by her hair. "I don't need magic to kill you." Maleficent commented throwing her off the cliff. _

"_No Aurora!" He caught her by the chain that was hanging between her magic binding handcuffs._

"_I don't think so." Maleficent blasts the tree branch._

"_Jefferson!" Aurora screamed as they fell down towards the river. _

_He lost his grip on Aurora's chain as they free fell down "Aurora!" He screamed reaching out for her, trying to get to her before they hit the water, but he couldn't. _

"Aurora!" Jefferson woke with a start. He looked around for her. It took him a moment to realize he was thrashing through his bed sheets and not the cold river waters. He froze trying to get his bearings. The clock showed it was 8:15.

He moved the covers back and sat at the edge of his bed. "Urgh!" He moaned holding his head before he looked back over at the clock. He noticed a small paperback book entitled, _Sleeping Beauty_.

_You couldn't get to Aurora and she died. _That little voice in the back of his head told him.

"No that isn't real, Regina…" Jefferson stopped mid sentence as he thought he heard crying.

He stood tilting his head trying to decide where it was coming from. He opened the door entering the hallway but he couldn't hear the sobbing anymore. He went back into his room trying to find the source of the noise. Looking up he noticed an air vent. _The sound is coming from the attic._

He quickly walked down to the end of the hallway. There was a door leading up to the attic.

_But I am alone in this house. _He thought as he opened the door. There in front of him were darken wooden steps. _No stone,_ he thought as they changed before his eyes.

Jefferson leaned back against the door. _Not again. The rooms to this house just can't change at will._ "The house isn't made of stone, this is not some castle from the middle ages get a grip man. " He told himself as he forced his eyes open and started up the stairs. It was dark except for the light coming in from the window across the room. The crying was louder. He could make out some words now.

"_Always in the dark…"_ It was a young woman's voice Jefferson noted as he listened. _"Nothing but darkness, mirrors, and smoke…"_

"Hello?" Jefferson asked coming to stand at the top of the stairs. "Is there someone up here?"

"_Who's there?"_ The voice cried out. _"All this time and I never ran into anyone before."_

"Who are you? What do you mean all this time? You are in my house." There was a string in front of him attached to a light so Jefferson pulled it.

The room lit up to a normal attic filled with boxes and junk but then the room flicked and the walls turned to stone. There were tables filled with potion bottles and candles, bookcases over flowing with books, a fireplace and chairs, and there under the window was a young lady sitting and crying.

"_Jefferson?"_ She stated confused shaking her head looking at him like she didn't believe he was there. _"How are you here? _Then looking around the room she asked._ "How am I am here?"_

"Do I know you?" He asked moving closer as the room changed back to a normal attic with boxes and forgotten junk.

"_You don't remember me?"_ She asked fresh tears falling from her eyes.

He looked down at her realizing who she was. The room switched back to the castle as he knelt down in front of her "Aurora?"

She let out a deep breath smiling as she wiped the tears from her eyes._ "You do remember me."_

"You are not real." Jefferson stood back up backing away from her.

"_What?"_ Aurora gasped. _"What are you talking about? You once told me that I was the only real thing in your life."_

"It's my head from the accident, the medicine. I need to take my pills. I am making you up. Regina's right I need to keep taking the pills." He closed his eyes trying to will away this crazy vision. When he opened them back up the room looked like his attic again but the girl was still there.

"_Making me up!"_ Aurora yelled standing up moving closer to him, but Jefferson jumped back. Aurora stopped hurt showing on her face. _"Since when do you listen to Regina?"_

"I need to take my medicine. I am supposed to do that each morning." He moved past the boxes for the wooden stairs.

"_Medicine? What potions does Regina have you taking?"_

"Potions? " He shook his head. "Regina isn't doing anything but trying to help me."

"_Regina doesn't know how to help anyone but herself. She is an evil witch. She only causes pain. I thought she lead to you being killed, but if you are here you can't be dead. Unless I have finally died too and this is some kind of messed up afterlife." _

"No she killed you." Jefferson exclaimed turning back to her once again seeing the stone walls and stain glass window behind Aurora. "You died years ago, and I moved on… the best I could. It wasn't easy." He placed a hand on Aurora's cheek. "I couldn't …. I can't forget you Rory, I love you still."

"_I still love you too Jefferson."_ She brought her hand up his.

_I remember what her touch felt like. But this… this isn't the same. It's like a faded memory not reality._ "But this isn't real. You are not really here. We are not in Rumple's Tower Room." _That is what this room is. _Jefferson remembered._ I used to live with Aurora, Rumple, and Belle…. Who are Rumple and Belle?_ He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. "This isn't our realm. This isn't any realm we have been too before."

"_No…No…"_ Aurora complained _"I am not dead Jefferson; I am sleeping in the Enchanted Forest. Just use your hat and come save me."_

"My hat?" Jefferson asked images of him spinning his black hat and purple smoke flooded his mind…_ so much purple smoke. _He shook his head trying to clear it all away.

"_Yes your hat. All your portals, use it to get home, find Phillip, and me, then break my curse. Free me from this horrible prison."_

"Portals." Jefferson shook his head as he remembered all the doors. _They all led to different worlds; Oz, Narina, Westeros, Wonderland… I used to travel between worlds like merchants would travel between market places._ His eyes grew big "Phillip…"

"_He's just a boy, I know but Maleficent's curse states he is the only one who can wake me."_

"He's not a boy anymore Rory. It's been almost nine years since you die. I am twenty-eight, and Phillip would be about seventeen now."

"_Twenty-eight? Nine years?"_ Aurora shook her head not wanting to hear his answer. "_I have been stuck in this darkness for nine years?!"_

"No you have been dead for nine years."

"_No! I am not dead. But the sleeping curse it's horrible. It is a never ending maze filled with darkness, mirrors, and smoke. There something in there with me, and I am worried if I stop it will get me and I may never wake up. Jefferson I don't want to go back to it… Jefferson don't let me go back."_ She grabbed at him but this time her hands went through his as he tried to grab a hold of her.

"Aurora! I can't save you, you are already gone."

"_It's so cold and dark where I am at… I don't want to go back to the darkness. This is where I belong with you at Rumple's Castle."_ She spun around pleading to the air. _"No please…. Let me stay! Even if it means I have died. Please let me stay with him! Let me stay with you! Jefferson!"_ She screamed as she disappeared.

"Aurora." Jefferson screamed turning around the room as it flashed between the normal modern attic and Rumple's Tower Room, before it settled on modern attic. Jefferson collapsed to the floor grabbing his head. "What is real? Did that happened? What is real anymore? Why can't I tell the difference?" He screamed before staggering over to the top of the stairs sitting down.

At the moment they looked like normal wooden stairs. "But if this is Rumple's Tower Room there was a wooden railing right about here." Jefferson muttered as he raised his hand. Sure enough he reached up grabbing the wooden railing, and as he did it appeared and the room switched back over to the room Rory and him had spent so many days and nights together.

Jefferson stood on the stone steps gripping the wooden railing with both hands. "This feels so real." He raised his hands to his face._ It feels real because you are crazy. Lost Princess, Rumple… no Rumplestiltskin. A magic hat, Wonderland, Grace…Grace. _He shook his head.

"What is real?" He whispered to himself. Then taking a deep breath he reached up turned out the light and walked down the wooden stairs back into the hallway, and down the hall to take his pills.

* * *

Jefferson exited the kitchen with a tea tray. "Regina can we talk?"

"What have we been doing all through dinner?" She laughed taking her cup and spooning out some sugar.

"I just feel liking I am forgetting things." Jefferson muttered as he sat back down in his seat.

She lowered her spoon to the side of her cup. "What things?"

"Can we talk about the night of the accident?"

"You want to talk about it with me?"

"Yes, I am just confused about it. I need to know what happened."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to Doctor Hopper about it? When is your next appointment with him?"

"No, I don't want to wait to talk to him."

"Jefferson it has been an extremely long day. I had to deal with two outsiders who are stuck here until the end of the week when their car can be fixed." _I guess that is what I get for having a worthless mouse be a car mechanic._ Regina thought twisting her napkin in frustration.

"Outsiders? Storybrooke doesn't really get many visitors."

"I don't want to talk about it. We weren't supposed to get any." Regina complained taking a long drink of her tea.

"All towns get visitors…"

"I said I don't want to talk about it." Regina hissed.

Jefferson took a sip of his tea as they both sat there in silence a moment, before going back to his original topic. "I just want to know what you think happened the night of the accident."

"What I think happened?" She asked raising an eyebrow at him.

"I mean what happened that night. It has been two years and that night is still a bit of a blur." Jefferson sat uncomfortably in his seat trying to play it off like he was alright, and not freaking out about his missing and jumbled memories.

"Well you did hit your head, it is a miracle you are alive, your scar…" Regina trailed off her hands going to her neck.

"Yes… my scar." Jefferson whispered looking into his tea cup hearing the Queen of Heart's off with his head order ringing in his ears. "You saved my life that night, did you not?"

"You have no idea what all I did to save your life the night you got that scar. Things could have turned out very differently." Regina placed her cup back down in front of her. She stared down at it a long moment before she continued. "The car was on its side and I pulled you back inside right before the car hit the water. Lucky for me I could break the rest of the windshield to get us both out to the bank of the river."

"Yes lucky for us both." Jefferson's hand went to the scarf at his neck.

"Jefferson are you sure there isn't something else you remember?"

"The water…" Jefferson looked up from his cup to stare across the table. "Was your hair blonde?"

"Blonde?" Regina couldn't help but smile.

"Yes I recall being in the cold water searching for…. you, but there was blonde hair, and I couldn't get to her…" He quickly shook his head correcting himself. "I mean you."

"It's just your mind playing tricks on you my dear Jefferson. The only time I had blonde hair was the wig I wore when I went as Alice and you went as the Mad Hatter to that Halloween Party back in College." Regina stood and started up the table towards him.

"Alice…" Jefferson felt himself tremble and he had to looked away from Regina suddenly very uncomfortable like there was something there he should remember but he just couldn't place it.

"Yes, you played with your hat all night long."

"Yes, my hat…" He tightened his fingers around his tea cup willing himself to stop shaking and to remember the night Regina was talking about.

"Yes you loved the costumes" Regina ran her fingers down the table as she came to stand beside him.

"I remember that cute little blue dress." Jefferson let go of his tea cup to grin up at her.

Regina leaned over and whispered in his ear. "And how quickly it came off."

"Yes it looked even better on the floor of my dorm room." Jefferson agreed turning his chair to face her better. He pulled her down onto his lap.

"You always did enjoy throwing my clothes on to the floor." Regina smiled before she leaned in and kissed him.

"Oh I think you enjoy throwing mine as well." Jefferson grinned back up at her all worries of what was real gone as he held Regina close.

"Yes, and you always did wear so many layers." She whispered as her hands started to undo the buttons on his vest.

"I didn't think you minded them." He flashed a playful smile as he started to pull her fancy blouse out of her skirt. "Just look at it as a challenge." He whispered as his fingers reached up under her shirt. "Remember nothing worth doing is ever easy."

Regina's only answer was to rock her hips into his and kiss him harder.

**Note: The nightmare at the beginning of the chapter can be found in full in my story The Ties That Bind Us Chapter 66. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 -Day Three **

"_Jefferson your face."_

"_It's not that bad, you should see the other guy." He joked right before Alice jumped into his arms. "Well now I feel better. But we should wait until we are back home and safe before we do too much of this." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before he pulled back and took her hand leading her back through the Queen of Hearts maze towards his portal and their way home. _

"_Wait something isn't right." He stopped looking around. _

"_What is it?"_

"_This isn't the way we came. There should have been a right turn here." He pulled away from Alice as he turned around in a circle. "Bloody Hell I hate Wonderland; the damn maze changed, on us."_

"_Which way should we go?"_

"_All ways lead to death. Which way do you want to die?" _

_The voice stopped him and he look around for who was talking. "Die? How about old and surrounded by lots of grandbabies and my riches?"_

_A huge grin appeared floating in the air quickly followed by the rest of the Cheshire Cat. _

"_Ches!" He exclaimed. "What is going on here?"_

"_It is the Queen of Hearts she doesn't plan on letting you two get out of here alive."_

"_Please Wonderland is basically our home away from home, she isn't going to be able to keep us here." Alice said bravely. _

"_All entrances are blocked and the maze walls will eat you alive. So best of luck Hatter and Alice but I think I won't be seeing you again." The cat started to disappear._

"_Ches! You can't just leave us!" He shouted. "Damn it at least give us a riddle or something just as ridiculous and Wonderland like to figure out a way out of this maze. _

"_No riddle will save you, death is in the air." And with that last comment the cat disappeared completely._

_Alice looked worried as he took her hand. "Don't worry we will be home in time for tea. We have been in much worse situations than this." He gave her hand a quick kiss. "Quickly it was supposed to be a right so let's go until the next right."_

_She gave a quick nod and they started running again. He lead her down to the right, then left, a quick right, and then two more lefts before they skidded to a stop. "No!" He had found the way out but there in front of the portal was the Queen herself, four guards and strangely enough their friend Will. He looked at Will confused at him being there at the side of the Queen of Hearts._

"_There you are." The Queen smiled evilly. "I was starting to think the walls got you and I wouldn't have the pleasure of killing you myself."_

_He protectively moved in front of Alice, as his eyes darted around trying to figure a way out of this mess. What is Will doing with the Queen of Hearts? He wondered. Where is Anastasia? _

_The Queen and Will moved forward._

"_How did you get here?"_

"_We didn't mean to trespass. See there was this white rabbit." Alice started moving up beside him._

"_Yes, we got lost in the maze." He tried to play it off like they had just stumbled down into this all not knowing. _

"_Silence!" The Queen roared. And with a wave of her hand his travel bag appeared in her hand. "I know who you two really are, as does my new Knave." _

"_Your new Knave?" Alice muttered a worried looked crossed her face as she looked from Will to Jefferson. _

_The Queen reached in and pulled out the gem stone they had stolen from her vault. "Who are you working for Hatter? Is it my daughter?"_

"_Your daughter?" He asked confused at her accusation. _

"_Yes, she had this same mirror. She pushed me through it and I found myself here. So you must be working for Regina."_

"_Regina! You are Regina's mother?" He shook his head waving his arms. "No, I don't work for her."_

"_You are lying!" The Queen shouted waving her hand and sending a wave of pain dropping both him and Alice their knees. "I remember seeing you in her court the days before I came to be stuck here. Tell me Hatter how is my daughter doing?"_

"_I haven't seen you daughter in five years" he grimace through the pain of the spell, "and I would like to keep it that way."_

"_Well you won't get to keep your wish; you are going to take me to her."_

"_No I can't do that." _

"_Guards bring me his wife."_

"_NO!" He shouted getting to his feet trying to stop the guards from taking Alice. But there were too many of them. Two guards forced him back down to his knees as the other two took his wife over in front of the Queen. "NO, Will please do something. What are you doing with her?" He cried out as he struggled against the guards._

_Will looked like he wanted to say something but he couldn't. _

"_Your friend won't be any help this time Hatter. You see I have his heart."_

"_I can't take you back home; if you have control of Will you know that."_

"_Yes the rule of the hat. But I plan on fixing the problem. You see your wife is no longer needed." She thrust her hand into Alice's chest. _

"_NO, ALICE!" he screamed as Cora stood there with Alice's bright red heart in her hand. "Please don't, I can take you, just don't hurt her! We have a daughter, please!"_

"_A daughter?" Cora looked from Jefferson to Alice. "That is something you should have thought about before deciding to steal something from me."_

"_Please. I swear I will take you back to Regina, just let Alice ago." He pleaded tears falling down his face. _

_Will pulled his sword placing it at his Queen's throat. "Put Alice's heart back."_

"_Is that any way to talk to your Queen, Knave. Now lower your sword."_

"_No." Will hissed out as he tried his best to fight for control, the sword shaking slightly in his hand. "Put Alice's heart back my Majesty."_

"_Oh I don't have time for this. Guards!"_

_The two guards who had, had been holding Alice moved forward and Will attacked them. _

_Seeing this as his only chance Jefferson fought back breaking free from the guards. He turned pulling out a vial of poppy dust from his jacket and blowing it into the one's helmet, as he pulled out the guard's sword. He turned before the guard could hit the ground stabbing the second guard. He pulled out the sword facing Cora who gave Alice's heart a little squeeze._

_Alice cried out in pain falling forward on all four as she fought to catch her breath. "Jefferson!" she choked out._

"_Alice it's going to be alright. Please your Majesty; there is a deal to be made here. Just put her heart back and we can make one."_

"_You stupid boy! Do I look like Rumplestiltskin? I do not make deals. I only get what I want!" She crushed Alice's heart. _

_He screamed as he watched Alice's heart grow dark and turned to dust in The Queen of Hearts' hand. Alice fell face first to the ground. "No, no, no, Alice! My Alice…" He cried as he rolled her over and hugged her close. _

_The Queen of Hearts stood over top of him. "Now you will…" _

_She never got it finish Will hit from behind with the base of his sword knocking her out. "Jefferson…" Will wiped some blood off his face from his fight with the guards as he looked down at Alice. "Oh God, mate, I am so sorry…" He shielded his sword. _

"_She is dead Will… I couldn't… Alice is dead." He looked up at him. "What I am supposed to do now? Grace… Her mother is dead."_

"_Jefferson I am sorry. Truly I am; Alice was as much my mate as you are." Will grabbed him by the shoulders. "But The Queen of Hearts has my heart and I am barely hanging on here to control even with her knocked out. Take Alice back home and never come back here. Do you hear me?" Will gave him a shake, but he just sat there holding his dead wife. _

"_Damn it Jefferson!" Will yelled pulling him to his feet helping him carry Alice to the portal. _

"_I will come back for you." _

"_No, you can't."_

"_I can't leave you under her control. She is going to kill you for helping us…." He trailed off realizing there were no long an us. Alice was gone._

"_You can leave me and you will. Believe me I got what I deserved and she won't kill me. I am too important to her."_

"_Where is Anastasia?"_

"_I lost her mate. She is as good as dead to me."_

"_She loved you."_

"_Well that turned out to not be true. Now go home Jefferson your daughter needs you more than ever. Never come back here, the Queen will kill you on sight now." And with that last comment Will pushed him through the portal._

Jefferson felt like he was free falling and he woke with a start in his bed. The clock blinked 8:15 and the book _Alice's Adventures In Wonderland_ laid there mocking him. He picked up the book. "How the hell do these books keep getting here? I don't even remember reading anything before bed!" He screamed in frustration throwing it across the room.

* * *

Jefferson felt drawn to his work room. The work table was a mess, there were scraps of materials, scissors, tape measures, and papers holding all kinds of design ideas. He drifted over to the table picking up the designs, he flipped through them. There was the design for a simple enough looking hat, several for different little girl dresses, and one for a white rabbit doll.

"_I know it isn't the same as what you wanted." He sat down in front of his little girl. _

_"I love it Papa. Thank you." She smiled as she poured the homemade doll a cup of tea. _

Jefferson shook his head placing the papers back on the table. He walked over to the window spotting the telescope. He leaned over looking through it. The scope had been focused on the school playground.

Why would I have it focused there? He thought, as he brought his hand up to move it. But just then a young girl with dirty blonde hair ran in front of swings he stopped. He focused on her and followed her as she ran around the playground with her friends.

"Why does she look so familiar?" He muttered to himself.

"_Because she is our daughter."_

Jefferson turned at the sound of her voice. "Alice?" He shook his head. "You aren't real. I don't have a wife or a daughter."

"_Don't you remember me? Remember our home or our daughter in the…"_

"Enchanted Forest." Jefferson whispered finishing her sentence.

"_Yes."_ Alice smiled. _"You do remember, don't you my love?"_

"Grace…" Jefferson whispered. "Our Grace… my Grace." He looked up to Alice tears playing at his eyes.

She walked over beside him at the telescope_. "Do you also recall what happened to separate us all?"_

"You died. I couldn't save you."

"_My death isn't your fault Jefferson. I talked you into taking that job. We both knew Wonderland wasn't a safe place to visit let alone steal in anymore. My death is on me."_ She looked through the telescope watching Grace play. "_She has grown up nicely in the almost four years since I have been gone."_

"I tried my best, but we had even less than what we had when you were still alive, because I gave up the Hat. I was too scared to do jobs. I made sure she had all she needed to eat, but really we were barely hanging on. I…" He closed his eyes remembering Regina standing there in his home offering him a job. "I messed up. Regina found us. She offered me a job explaining if I did what she wanted Grace would want for nothing. I thought I need to do it, for her, for us. But she…."

He trailed off hearing Grace's last words ringing in his head. _Just promise me you will come back. You have to promise. For our tea party. Promise._

"_Jefferson it's alright."_ Alice whispered to him moving closer placing a hand on his chest.

Jefferson pulled away from her embarrassed at his failings as a father and a husband. "Why aren't you mad at me? I left our daughter! She is all alone!"

"_Would you like me to yell and scream for your mistake?"_

"There shouldn't be another option. God knows I don't deserve your forgiveness or Grace's after what I have done."

"_Regina tricked you… just like she is now. But at least she kept her word. Look at our daughter Jefferson."_ She waved for him to come back to the telescope. _"She has nice clothes, looks well feed, and happy. Sure she thinks our neighbors are her parents, but she is alive and here. You can see her everyday which is something you couldn't do in Wonderland."_

"Wonderland…" Jefferson's hands went to his throat. "I couldn't get the hat to work. I didn't have enough magic. And the White Rabbit was no help. He was too scared to use his magic."

"_I know my love."_ Alice said sadly. _"Come see our Grace."_

Jefferson walked back to the telescope looking through the lens, watching his Grace run and play not seeming to know anything was wrong with her life. "She does look happy, she always wanted friends, but none of the neighbors had kids." He took a deep breath and whispered. "She is better off without me."

Alice moved closer taking his left hand in hers. _"That is not true. If she remembered you, I know there is nothing she would not do get back home to you."_

"How do you know that? I left her."

"_Because she loves you and she is our daughter, and just like us, nothing is impossible to her. She would find a way home to you."_

The bell must have rung because all the kids stopped and ran to line up by the door. Jefferson watched as Grace ran over to one of the teachers, a woman with short dark hair, giving her a hug. "Is that?" He focused the scope on the woman. "Snow? But her hair is all wrong."

"_Everything is all wrong here Jefferson, you just need to figure out what is real and what is not. Keep looking and you will piece it all together."_

Jefferson watched as she started to disappear before his eyes. "No Alice wait… Don't leave me again." He finished to an empty room.

* * *

"What did you do all day Jefferson?" Regina asked as they were eating dinner.

"I worked a little in my work room."

"Really? On what?"

"Just some designs…" Jefferson trailed off thinking about the white rabbit doll he had made and placed in the guest bedroom. "What do you have planned for tomorrow?" He asked trying to change the subject.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I was thinking of going down to town tomorrow."

"Down to town; whatever for?"

"I think getting out of this house will do me good."

"I have meetings all day tomorrow."

"Meetings; with whom?"

"Mr. Gold, Doctor Hopper, and Graham for starters."

"Yes, good old Sheriff Graham…" Jefferson mumbled clearly jealous. "You seem to be meeting with him a lot lately."

Regina smiled again. "Well he is Sheriff, Jefferson I have to make sure the town's well protected."

"Is that the only reason you are meeting with him so much lately?"

"Jefferson are you worried I am going to replace you?"

Regina's comment stirred up a memory.

_"Only one last job?" Regina asked walking back across her Throne Room towards him. She was wearing a long gown which showed too much cleavage when she leaned over him and asked him. "Anything I want it to be? No questions asked?"_

_"I don't have a choice do I?" He asked her. _

_"Not unless you consider my dungeons a choice."_

_He thought about it for a moment. "Yes, I will do one last job for you and then you have to let me go. Find a new young man to be your play toy."_

_"I think I need to take care of my husband before I find a new play toy." Regina smirked "It's a deal, as long as you agree to do whatever I tell you to do."_

Jefferson shook his head trying to push the images away. "What did you do to your husband?" The words were out of his mouth before he knew he had asked it.

Regina stopped her fork midway to her mouth and lost her smile. "What did you just ask me Jefferson?"

"Your husband how did you kill…" Jefferson stopped in midsentence realizing how crazy of a question he was asking. _Regina didn't have a husband._ "I…I…" He stuttered as his fingers played with his napkin.

"Are you taking your pills?"

"Yes, of course. Every morning and night but the nightmares …" Jefferson trailed off not wanting to tell her more.

"The nightmares are back?"

_Did she just have a slight smile at that inquiry?_ Jefferson thought to himself not knowing what to say.

"Your comments last night about the blonde hair. Are you dreaming about Aurora again, or is it Alice?

"Who are they? I can't seem to remember correctly. Alice said she was my wife, but Aurora was the one who had on my mother's ring." _My mother's ring… dear God I didn't realize that was her ring until now._ Jefferson thought staring down at his plate, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore. "But then there is Grace…"

"They are not real Jefferson." She slapped her hands down on the table besides her plate.

"But I saw Grace running around that playground of the school."

"Maybe I should talk to Doctor Whale about your pills."

"No," He shook his head trying to clear the memories away. "I know they are not real the way I see them."

"Well that is good to know, at least your sessions with Doctor Hopper must be working."

"I just don't understand where they came from? That little girl why would I think?"

"Her name is Paige. Do you really not remember?"

"Remember what?" Jefferson looked up at her fighting back tears of frustration and pain as his two sets of memories fought with each other trying to win out in his mind which one was real.

"Doctor Hopper thinks it just another layer of guilt you feel from the accident."

"Another layer of guilt? How does the accident play into me thinking Grace is my daughter?"

"Because we didn't know it at the time but I was pregnant the night of the accident." Regina tried her best not to smile at Jefferson's confused and upset face. She could almost hear the conflict of what was real and what she had implanted in his head colliding and fighting for dominance.

"And you lost the baby…" Jefferson stared down at his plate so confused at what was real because both sets of memories seemed so believable.

"Yes I lost the baby."

There was a long moment of silence before against his better judgment he whispered. "Did we know an Alice or an Aurora?"

"They are NOT HERE!" Regina screamed standing up. "This is my town, not some messed up fairy tale world, where I could never have my happy ending!" Regina paused a moment realizing she was about to say something she shouldn't. "I swear I don't know why I do this to myself. I shouldn't come up here every night hoping that tonight would be the night you act the way you did before you dreamed up this idea of Aurora or Alice."

"No, Regina. Please, don't say that." Jefferson stood and walked around the table to her, he reached out for her but she pulled back.

"You are never going to be the way I want you." Regina moved around him and headed for the door.

"I know I have not been myself since the accident, but I am trying." He called after her chasing her into the foyer. "These visions and nightmares of castles, and other realms, I know they are not real. You coming up here each night, that is the best part of my day. I want things to get back to the way we use to be."

"Things will never be the way they used to be between us." She hissed turning to face him.

"No, if you just moved back in. I am sure having you here more would help me realize what is real. My mind wouldn't have time to wonder to these dark places." He paused a moment brushing his fingertips lightly across her cheek. "You do still love me don't you Regina?"

She leaned up giving him a soft kiss on the lips before pulling back. "Trust me Jefferson you would not still be here if I did not." She opened the door and left him alone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – Day Four**

_James's smile brighten. "Oh do I have your full attention now Jefferson?" he laughed letting go of Jefferson's hair. "Good because you are going to tell me everything I want to know or you are going to lose that thieving right hand of yours." James gave his face a sharp slap before he sat back down in the chair across from him._

_He stared at James for a few moments not believing his threat. But then the butcher entered the room with this long bladed peeler. "You wouldn't dare." He jarred the table trying to free himself from the cuffs on the table. "No…NO!"_

_James moved around the table grabbing him by his already bruised and cut shoulders. With a groan He went still._

_"Who do you work for?"_

_"I can't tell you that." He cried his eyes watching the butcher play with the peeler._

_James gave a nod and the butcher reached out for Jefferson's right hand._

"No." Jefferson muttered in his sleep tightening his grip on the bed sheets.

_James dug in his fingers into his shoulders and ordered. "Let him have your fingers Jefferson."_

Jefferson gave out a little cry as he tossed in his bed.

_The butcher pulled him forward through the cuff on the table, and forced his hand flat on the table top. He took the peeler and ran it down Jefferson's index finger._

_He jerked in pain as his screams filling the cell._

_"He moved and I took more than I had planned to my Prince."_

_James leaned down and whispered in his ear. "Did you hear him Jefferson, the more you move the more damage he does."_

_"You bastard." He growled. "I am not one for killing but I plan on making an exception for you, James."_

_"Like you expect me to believe you have never killed anyone before."_

_"I didn't say that. It is not something I like to do on purpose. I don't treat taking a life as lightly as you do."_

_"There you go again Jefferson, sounding like you are better than me. You are not better than me."_

_"I __know__ I am better than you James, and no amount of pain will ever change my mind on the matter."_

_James squeezed his shoulder and he tried once again to get away from his grip, but James tighten and pulled him back hard against the chair. He snarled in pain._

_"Maybe starting with his name was too much, while don't you just call me by my title."_

_"Go to Hell James."_

_"You are the one with one foot in the grave Hatter, so I would watch what you say about Hell." James gave a nod and the Butcher ran it down just to the right of the first cut. Now the whole top of his index finger was raw and bleeding._

_"Well since you seem to like that so much let's do it again. This time the thumb, it will be hard to steal anything when you can't grip it."_

_He closed his eyes and screamed as the butcher cut down his thumb. _

"Prince James! Prince James! Your title is Prince James!" Jefferson screamed bolting up right in his bed. "But I won't tell you who I work for!" Gasping for breath he grabbed his right hand relieved to see it was fine and not raw and bloody.

Jefferson looked over at the clock it was 8:15 am again. "Every morning at 8:15 I wake with these bloody nightmares." He shook his head picking up the book which was on the nightstand next to the clock. "Snow White and other fairy tales." He frowned down at the book. "Snow how you ever fell in love and married that prat of a Prince James is beyond me."

He closed his eyes shaking his head. "Damn it I am doing it again. Snow and James aren't real. These nightmares are not real… I need my pills." He placed the book back beside the clock and got out of bed heading for the shower.

* * *

Jefferson found himself back in this work room, but today he had no desire to sew, he only wanted to look down at the town. His vision of Alice had told him yesterday that everything was wrong, and he would have to look and see what was really going on down there in the little town of Storybrooke.

Jefferson focused on Regina's house and watched as she came out, she passed Granny's dinner where Ruby and her Grandmother were fighting. Nothing unusual there it was a known fact that they hate each other.

_But it wasn't always like that, was it_? The voice in the back of his head asked him.

"No they used to get along just fine, protecting each other from the family's curse…The curse? What curse?" Jefferson tried to think the memory remained just out of reach tucked back in the dark corners of his mind.

He continued to watch Regina as she ran into Snow. "Oh no, she going to kill her!" He gasped but watched as Snow apologized over and over again before Regina left her standing on the sidewalk to continue on her way. "She is not Snow White, her name is Mary Margaret." He remembered. "She is just a teacher…" He tried to convince himself but the person he saw next made him jump back.

"Rumple!" He pulled back turning in a circle running a hand through his hair as he looked around his room. "My old employer is stuck here too and not killing Regina for bringing us all. What is going on?" He looked through the telescope again. They talked and Rumple walked away. "His skin isn't right. What is with that cane? He has a limp. He doesn't have magic does he? He is just as mixed up as Snow, or the Huntsman. Oh my god that is right; the Sheriff is that stupid Huntsman that almost got me and Aurora killed on that foolish bear hunt!"

He pulled back from the telescope searching the room, "I need paper and a pen… I need to figure out who is who. I have these memories why don't they."

"_Because Regina is punishing you my dear boy."_

"Rumplestiltskin!" He exclaimed as he carefully took a step back from the ghostly vision. "Punishing me?"

"_Well she is punishing us all, so she can have her happy ending, but you especially. You are the only one she let remember_."

"How do you know that?"

"_Jefferson my dear boy, you are smart enough to figure it all out, you are just too scared to say it out loud."_

"Because if anyone else in town remembered they wouldn't just let her walk on by; let her rule as Mayor after what she did as Queen."

"_Correct!"_ Rumple giggled as he moved his hands in a familiar over the top gesture. "_There is the bright young boy I trained."_

Jefferson shook his head. "But you are down there. I saw you just walking around. You're human and limping. You have no magic here. How did Regina best you?"

"_Who said she bested me? How do you know I am not exactly where I want to be?"_

"But no magic? You cast Belle out because …"

"_Don't speak to me of Belle…"_

Jefferson stepped back suddenly afraid of the ghostly image as he recalled giving Belle to Regina in exchange for his freedom. "So everyone here is someone else and they don't know it. Stuck here without magic, except Regina?"

"_She may not be able to wave her hand and make things happen, but do you really think she would come here without some kind of magic? She would never leave behind her power, or her vault."_

"My hat… Regina has my hat. My hat which can travel between worlds." He laughed. "Even I know how crazy that sounds. I mean it is no wonder Regina doesn't live with me more. I can't believe she still comes up for dinner with all the insanity I have spurted out since the accident."

"_Regina and you living together never happened and a part of you knows that. She turned you down on the chance at a possible happy ending together. You moved on not once but twice and look at where it has gotten you."_

Jefferson frowned down at the paper memories of him and Regina dating in college and living together after graduation filled his mind. He looked down at the blank piece of paper before him and then up at Rumple who slowly faded away before his eyes.

Shaking his head Jefferson closed his eyes trying to clear his mind, but the voice kept whispering names and it wasn't long before his pen was moving on the paper.

* * *

Jefferson opened the door and let Regina in, she just walked right past him into the living room. "Good evening to you too." He coldly called after her.

"Don't even start with me, after the day I have been having." She huffed pouring herself a drink.

"What could have possible gone wrong in your prefect little town?" Jefferson asked sitting down on his piano bench.

"Everything, no one is who …" Regina stopped breaking in a growl. "Oh Nevermind, I don't want to talk about this with you. That isn't why I came up here."

"Why do you come up here?"

"Do you wish I wouldn't?"

"I am not so sure it's a good thing for either of us. This, us it isn't real any more is it Regina?"

"Damn it!" Regina hissed placing her empty glass down. "I told him this isn't the deal I made. This is supposed to be my happy ending but everything is…just a lie."

"A lie? What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on now Jefferson how have you not figured it out?" She laughed evilly shaking her head. "You are the only one who is supposed to remember but that little imp…" she crossed her arms. "He has to know something…"

"Little Imp…" Jefferson searched his brain trying to recall why he thought he should know who she was talking about.

"I can't stay here tonight. I have other places I can be. Other people I can have dinner with." She started around him for the front door.

"You mean Graham?" he challenged following close behind her.

"No, there are other people in town other than Graham. You would know that if you ever left this house!" She hissed wickedly.

"Then who? Who else would you be having dinner with other than me?"

"Kurt and his son Owen."

"Who?"

"If you must know it is the outsiders I told you about the other night. Their car still isn't fixed and I thought it may do me some good to get away from the annoying people in this town for a night." She opened the door. "Maybe if you are luckily I will see you tomorrow night."

Jefferson jumped as Regina slammed the door shut behind her. He stood there a moment just staring at the closed front door. Regina's words echoing in his head. _"I told him this isn't the deal I made. This is supposed to be my happy ending but everything is…just a lie." _ "Her happy ending…" Jefferson muttered to himself as he recalled her question._ "Oh come on now Jefferson how have you not figured it out?"_

"Figured it out…I need to figure it out…" His fingers went to his pants pocket and he pulled out the little list of people he started writing earlier.

Grace - Paige

Snow – Mary Margret

Rumple – Mr. Gold

Huntsman - Graham

Red - Ruby

Red's Grandma - Granny

Cricket – Doctor Hopper

Victor – Doctor Whale

"Where is that Prat Prince James and Belle…They are missing from my list and these new memories." Jefferson muttered to himself as he sat down on the piano bench, his mind racing back to his narrow escape from King George's Dungeon's and James's torture.

_He stood next to Rumple watching James and his guards ride away. "Please tell me we are going back to our castle and plot his and his father's untimely and cruelfully painful deaths. Yes I am thinking the worst possible death you know of then let's really get creative with it."_

_"The stars have already foreseen his end." Rumple assured him. _

_"Well that is good to know. I hope it is painful and drawn out."_

_"He won't even see it coming."_

_"Well that is a bit disappointing. But I suppose dead is dead, so hooray for that."_

"So maybe Regina has killed Snow's Charming as part of her revenge, or maybe she just left him behind. But where is Belle? She wouldn't have left her behind in the Enchanted Forest, Belle was her prized chess piece against Rumple. Regina didn't…"Jefferson crumbled the list in this hand and raced up the stairs for his workroom and the telescope.

He adjusted the telescope searching through the town. "Regina wouldn't have hurt Belle. Rumple would kill her if she did. Belle has to be alive…but where?"

**Author's Note: The whole nightmare flashback can be read in full in Chapter Seven of my other story_ Breaking The Hatter._ And the two chapters dealing with Jefferson giving Belle to Regina in exchange for his hat and freedom can be found in Chapters Seventy-One and Seventy-Two of my story _The Ties That Bind Us. _**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5- Day Five**

"_You may not be my son but I am not leaving here empty handed today." Rumple hissed grabbing him roughly by his patchwork jacket._

"_No! Rumple you are not taking my son!" Hook tried to get to his feet but Rumple's spell was still in place._

"_I am not going anywhere with you, you monster. You killed my mother!" He screamed as he stabbed Rumple in the chest with his little dagger._

_Rumple giggled pulling out the dagger and tossing it on the ground by his feet. "You are more like your father than you will ever know."_

"_How? How are you not dead?" He wondered backing away from him._

"_I am a wizard. I thought you were smarter than this? I never would have made our deal if I knew you were as stupid as your father."_

"_Jefferson get away from him!" Hook screamed. "RUN!"_

_He turned to run but with a wave of Rumple's hand he went flying backwards and Rumple gripped him tight by neck._

"_No Rumplestiltskin. Please do what you wish to me but leave the boy alone. He is Milah's son as much as he is mine."_

"_The boy has made a deal with me."_

"_A deal? Jefferson what did you do?"_

"_I didn't know he killed mother. I just wanted to leave Neverland. I wanted to grow up, and have more adventures than you." He cried as he struggled to break free from Rumple's grip._

"_Rumple listen to him he can't make a deal with you? He is just a boy he didn't know what he is doing!"_

"_I don't discriminate for age if the deal is good." Rumple waved his free arm around as he talked in a mocking gesture._

"_If you think it was good it must not be good for him."_

"_Don't you worry Killian Jones, I will see that Jefferson wants for nothing. And since you have seen fit to keep my real son from me, that is really more than I should do for the little brat."_

"_Father, I am sorry for running away, don't let him take me!" He screamed as he kicked and squirmed trying to break free of Rumple's grip tears were now freely falling down his face. "Father! I don't want to leave you! I just wanted you to love me like you used too when mother was alive!"_

"_Jefferson, is that what you think? That I stopped loving you?"_

_He just let out a sob of frustration as his hands went up over his head trying to claw at Rumple's hand which was holding him._

"_That's simply not true I never stopped loving you. Not once since your mother died, or since you left this ship. You are my son and there is nothing you can do which will make me stop loving you."_

"_Oh isn't that touching." Rumple mocked him. "Are you quite through?"_

"_No! I won't let you take him." Hook screamed._

_Rumple giggled again. "There nothing you can do about it." Rumple reached into his pocket pulling out a mirror. "Any time dearie." He ordered into the mirror._ _Suddenly just over the other side of the railing a portal opened._

"_I would say until next time we see each other, but I doubt there will be. See my son will make his way out of this realm to a land without magic and I am going to use your son and all the portals I create from his world hopping trophies to get him back."_

"_Magic or not I don't care what world you will be in I will track you down and I will kill you!"_

"_Good luck with that." Rumple stated before throwing Jefferson over the railing into the portal._

"_No father, I don't want to leave you!" He screamed as he disappeared through the portal._

"Father!" Jefferson shouted waking with a start. He took in his room and started shaking his head. He reached over to grab the clock to see blinking back 8:15 am and his book fell off the table.

He leaned off the bed to pick it up. "Peter Pan…." He looked at the book. "I don't understand… How do these books keep getting here? And it is always 8:15… it is almost like the day is resetting, but just slightly different, each time." He muttered wiping the remaining sleep from his eyes as he got out of bed.

* * *

"Doctor Hopper, why ever would I dream that I am two hundred and fifty some years old?" Jefferson asked towards then end of his weekly meeting with the Doctor at his house.

"Well Jefferson it is a quite simple answer. A Lost Boy, you feel lost, you can't make out what is real. Then there is the whole issue of Wonderland, you feel lost in a world that isn't real. But I assure you this world is real."

"_You aren't going to sit here and listen to this stupid cricket's chirping are you?"_ Hook asked appearing behind Doctor Hopper's chair.

Jefferson stared over Archie's shoulder at the ghostly image of his father, his eyes focused on his hook for a moment before his thoughts drifted back a two decades to when he was a little boy at Rumple's Castle.

_"Why do you keep these creepy puppets out on display in the dinning room?"_

_"They are here to remind me that it is better to be the kind of person that takes than those who get taken from." Rumple looked the young boy over. "Don't you agree?"_

_"Yes of course!" He piped before his eyes grew wide. "Wait a minute are you telling me that these two puppets used to be people?"_

_"Yes, that silly cricket wasn't always holy, he was once nothing more than a thief like you."_

_"No one is a thief like me." He bragged rocking slightly back on his heels. "I am the best which is why we are business partners."_

_Rumple couldn't help but smiled at the young boy's cockiness. "Yes indeed."_

Jefferson shook slightly at the memory before stating,"But these fairy tale characters and plot lines that are all twisted around and fractured." He shook his head. "I am trying and trying to get them to go away but over the last five days I just feel like they are getting worse."

"I take it the new medications are not working?" He wrote something on this notepad. "Are the nightmares back?"

"I feel like they never went away. Every morning I wake with these dreadfully messed up dreams. They are so messed up that I pray they are only dreams because if not I don't know what kind of person I was…" Jefferson shifted uncomfortably in his chair before continuing. "The things that I did or happened to me… I feel like this dream person is even more fucked up than I currently am."

Doctor Hopper put down his pen and leaned forward in his chair. "Jefferson you are not messed up, you suffered a serious accident. One you are still trying to recover from."

"It's been almost two years since the accident, however long will it take to get over it and move on with my life?"

"_It hasn't been two years since the accident, because the accident is a lie."_ His father stated moving to the side of the Doctor's chair. _"It is just something that evil witch schemed up to keep you in your place."_

Jefferson bit his lip to stop himself from responding to the vision of Hook.

"Hopefully not much longer but as Doctor Whale has told you one can never know with such a serious head trauma. You are quite lucky to be alive and so functional."

"Trust me I don't feel lucky to be alive and I sure as hell don't feel functional." Jefferson muttered looking anywhere but at his father's image.

"Jefferson are you feeling suicidal?"

"No!" Jefferson sat up straighter in his chair. "No Doctor Hopper I am most certainly not. I just want to feel like me again instead of all these conflicting memories, thoughts, ideas…" He trailed off waving his hand around as he looked around his living room.

"Well that is why I keep coming up here for our sessions Jefferson, so you will get better. I know Regina is hoping for the same thing."

Jefferson laughed at that thought. "Sure she is."

"She loves you Jefferson."

"She loves the idea of keeping me in my place." The words were out of his month before he knew what he was saying.

"What do you mean by that Jefferson?"

His words echoed in his head and he knew them to be true. "She loves to remind me that she is better than me a Queen.. I mean mayor." He quickly corrected himself with a slight shake of the head. "And I am just a …" He trailed thinking T_hief. Pirate's son. Peasant _to himself.

"_You are better than that witch any day, Jeff_." Hook told him before disappearing.

"You are just what Jefferson?" Doctor Hopper questioned.

He shook his head not wanting to answer as he once again shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"Our time is almost up for the day just finish your thought and we can end our session a few minutes early if you wish."

Jefferson's fingers gripped the arms of the chair and he gave a little huff before he finally said. "I know my place."

* * *

"How old am I?" Jefferson questioned Regina half way through their dinner that night.

"Are you serious?" Regina laughed. "You don't remember how old you are?"

"I just feel much older than twenty-eight. I feel like I have done so much more than could be possible in only twenty-eight years on this earth."

Regina looked him over closely a slight smirk playing at her lips. "Well before the accident you certainly did travel a lot for work."

"Yes…work… for the art museum in Boston." Jefferson used his fork to play with the food on this plate, trying to believe the words he was saying.

"And don't forget your personal shop. We had to sell it after the accident to move here but you have always been a collector of interesting items. You just have to look around your house to know that is the truth."

He shook his head. _A collector that sounds about right, I have always liked to gather things from my trips._

"I always did like to listen to stories of your travels." Regina smiled before taking a sip of her wine.

"Yes I remember enjoy all those nights by the fireplace over a hand of cards…" Jefferson trailed off suddenly realizing he was remembering his nights at Rumple's Castle with Aurora. "I… I am sorry I am misremembering again you don't play cards."

"No I don't." She coldly commented before adding. "A true Lady doesn't play cards."

"Now you sound like Belle." He bit his lip the second the words were out of his mouth. _If you don't have anything real to say Jefferson just don't say_. He hissed in his head to himself.

Regina cocked her head looking at him questioningly. "I am sorry I don't think I know a Belle."

Jefferson bit his lip staring at his plate as he thought about how all those years ago he had turned Belle over to Regina for his own freedom. One question kept repeating itself over and over in his head, getting louder each time he thought it until he finally had to let it out. "Did you kill Belle?"

"Kill Belle?" Regina laughed. "Jefferson what do you think I am? You create these fictional characters and believe I have killed them all. Is Belle a new blonde hair girlfriend of yours I am supposed to have killed in your made up fairy tale world?"

"No she isn't and you know it." Jefferson yelled slamming down his fork. "She was Rumple's girl and you wanted to hurt him, or maybe you just wanted him to kill me for taking Belle to you? I don't know what you really wanted with her, but bringing her to you was suppose to earn my freedom."

"You don't look very free from me Jefferson." Regina mocked him.

"No I am not." He took a deep breath gaining confidence. "I got away for a few years but you found me and tricked me into helping you again. And then you left me in Wonderland but that just wasn't punishment enough for you…"

"Stop right there!" Regina shouted. "Listen to yourself. Wonderland again?" She stood up. "I have had enough of this; I have bigger problems to deal with tonight then your crazy memories."

Jefferson thought about chasing after her but he saw the ghostly image of Belle appear across the table from him. "Belle." He whispered leaning forward as he heard the front door slam shut. "I am so sorry for giving you to her."

"_I am not dead." _She smiled at him._ "I am too important for her to just kill and you know it. I am still locked away here in town. Only here everyone is a prisoner not just me."_

Jefferson felt the tears on his cheeks before he realized he was crying. He watched Belle disappear leaving him alone in his huge empty house with only his conflicting memories to keep him company.

**Author's Note: This chapter's nightmare flashback can be read in full in my other story **_**The Ties That Bind Us**_** in Chapter Sixty-Three. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6- Day Six**

_He grabbed Dracula by his cloak and shoved the stake farther into Dracula's back not stopping till the tip was exposed through his chest. Seeing the stake sticking out from the vampire's chest he felt satisfied and let go of Dracula letting him fall to his knees. As Dracula screeched in pain, he rushed over coming to aide Victor who was trying to deal with Aurora as she fought to go help her master._

_"Let me go to him!" Aurora shouted._

_"Judging by Aurora's reaction. I take it you missed the heart." Victor teased lifting a kicking Aurora off the ground as he readjusted his hold around her waist._

_"Regina always did tell me I didn't have a heart or know where one was located." He snickered pulling out a handful of fairy dust from his travel bag. "Hold her still."_

_"What do you think I am trying to do?" Victor struggled turning his head as Jefferson blew the fairy dust into Aurora's face. As soon as she breathed it in Aurora fell asleep and collapsed in Victor's arms._

_"If you think your little bits of magic are going to save you from my revenge, then you are wrong Jefferson." Dracula stated gripping the expose stake which stuck out of his chest and started to pull it forward._

_"Take Aurora and go." Victor ordered his friend as he handed Aurora over to him. "Once you get her out of this world Dracula should not have ahold over her any longer. Did you get the blood bags?"_

_"Yes, but Victor..."_

_"Get the blood inside her as soon as possible, and she should be fine by morning. Now go!" Victor ordered._

_"Victor I just can't leave you." He looked his friend in the eye._

_"Yes, you can and you will. Both of you can never come back as long as Dracula is alive." Victor ordered._

_"Victor…" He trailed off not wanting to say goodbye. _

_"Don't worry about me I will be…" Victor paused a moment before forcing himself to say. "fine. I will contact that Van Helsing we read about. I think the two of us can…." Victor stopped talking as both his eyes and Jefferson's eyes grew big in fear when they heard Dracula's growl._

_They both turned their heads to the side to look at him as Dracula pulled the stake completely out of his chest. Dracula stood turning the bloody stake over and over again in his right hand._

_"Go!" Victor screamed as Dracula pulled back his right hand with the stake and threw it across the room at Jefferson and Aurora._

Jefferson awoke with a start his hands going to his chest because he was sure a stake would be sticking out of it. "No I spun my hat and got Aurora and myself out of there." Jefferson shook his head falling back on to the bed. "That doesn't make sense. Spun my hat and disappeared from that black and white world. What the hell…"

His eyes went to the clock 8:15 again this time the book beside the bed was_ Frankenstein_. "Victor … No!" He stood up shaking his head. "What the hell is wrong with me? And what is real?"

* * *

Jefferson spent the morning drifting around his over sized house. Each room he entered seemed to bring him more of his hallucination and nightmares. Earlier in the week his bedroom had looked like the room Alice and him had shared. The upstairs guest room had looked like a playroom for Grace, and the attic had been Rumple's Tower Room where he had spent so many of his late childhood and young adulthood days and night studying, practicing, and just plain trying to please Rumple.

But today he felt drawn to the rooms off of his living room. He had discovered the rooms behind the white folding doors to the left of the fireplace flickered between the normal guest bedrooms and the cold stone walls of a castle. The first room had looked like the bedroom he had had at Rumple's Castle from the time he was dragged from his father in Neverland to the time he ran away barely clinging to life with Aurora just before his nineteen birthday.

The second room looked like Aurora's bedroom and he found himself lingering in there hoping for the first time that he would see a ghost, but for all his willingness she refused to appear for him.

But it was in the last room in the hallway that be came across his first ghostly visitor of the day. He knew the moment he opened the door it was Belle's room. Rumple had given her a bedroom which doubled as her own personal library as part of their deal for helping to nurse him back to health after Rumple had saved him from Prince James and King George's Dungeon.

Jefferson found himself walking around the room his fingers brushing over the old dusty books. He came to a stop at her desk. One of Belle's journals was lying open. He picked it up and noticed it was a new journal, completely unused.

"_I know you always picked on me for writing down the events of what you called my boring days here at the castle, but I stand by what I told. You should write down your adventures."_

"I did." Jefferson turned not surprised to see Belle stand there. It was her room after all. "It was years later after I left here, after I betrayed you to Regina." He gripped the empty journal close to his chest. "I wrote the stories down for my daughter Grace, and you were right she loved them."

"_I am sure you had to leave out parts to make it child friendly."_

Jefferson laughed. "I don't know if you or any of this is real, but still I feel like I have missed you so much Belle. There are only two things I regret more in my life than what I did to you. I was nineteen, heartbroken, and beyond stupid, but wherever you are I hope you know it has haunted me ever since."

"_I told you, I am still alive. I am here in Storybrooke. You need clear your head of all of Regina's nonsense and then you can come and save me. "_

"You and all these ghosts say one thing is nonsense and Regina and the Doctors say you are nonsense. I can't save you Belle, because I can't seem to save myself."

"_You have all the facts Jefferson you just need to read between the lines, and as I recall you were always so good at doing that." She smiled before she started to fade away in front of him. _

"Belle wait!" Jefferson yelled moving forward but it was too late the ghost of his old friend had disappeared. He stood there staring at the room as it flickered back and forth a moment before settling on a modern guest room.

He stood there in the center of the room still clutching the old leather journal. He looked down at its worn cover and then around the very clean and modern looking room. "This doesn't fit here. But if none of that world is real how can I still have this journal?"

He walked back out into the hallway and back into his living room this time moving past the white folding doors to the right of the fireplace. There were three rooms down this hallway as well.

He slowly opened the first door and the room he saw was the bedroom he had shared with Aurora those three wonderful but short months in Neverland. He walked over grabbing the dark wooden bed post as memories of Aurora fixing the little run down shack into the lovely home they had planned to spend the rest of their lives together in flooded his mind.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and for the second time that day he actually was hoping for a ghost to appear to him. "Aurora" he softly whispered to the empty room as his eyes searched for her. He wasn't sure how long he sat there but she never did appear.

Finally he stood and walked out of the room, turning down the hallway to the next door. This time the room didn't focus on one image for long. It changed back and forth between a den with a pool table and bar to the little pub he and Aurora had worked in Neverland.

"We were going to be the owners of this place. I was going to have a real job like Aurora had wanted me to have instead of always having to lie and steal to get what I wanted. But my father..." He growled to the empty room as memories of his father and his faithful pirates kidnapping Aurora and him back to The Jolly Roger.

Jefferson stepped back slamming the door shut not wanting to remember what had happened in Neverland. Not wanting this version of the past to be true. If it was real it meant he lost not only Aurora, but Alice and Grace too. That his daughter was currently down in Storybrooke without him.

Still gripping Belle's journal in his hand he opened the last door and saw stairs leading down into the basement. Not really wanting to but knowing he had too he flicked on the light and went down into the basement. What he saw at the bottom made his heart race and his mind scream.

The basement looked like his little cottage in Wonderland. There were hats everywhere. Hats on the tables, hats on the chairs, hats piled on hats in every nook and corner possible.

"No…" Jefferson muttered backing up as his own voice in his head was repeating. _Get it to work. Get it to work! _He raced back up the stairs down the hallway and back out into the clean white living room as his voice in his head screamed _GET IT TO WORK_! He grabbed his head dropping Belle's Journal, as he rocked back and forth on his knees trying to will not only the voice away but the memories of the weeks and months spend stuck in Wonderland back to the dark corners of his mind.

"It's not real…" He muttered out loud. "That place… I am not there… I was never…" He didn't finish his thought as his eyes focused Belle's journal lying on the white carpet in front of him.

"_You know none of what you are wishing for is real."_

Jefferson turned to the voice behind him seeing his friend Victor Frankenstein. "This has to be real everything else sound so crazy. Neverland? Rumplestiltskin? Sleeping Beauty? Alice and Wonderland? Snow White and the Evil Queen? And then there is you," He pointed at his friend's ghost as he got back up to his feet. "Doctor Frankenstein and his black and white world." He shook his head trying to will the ghost away but his wish just like earlier when wishing to see Aurora did not come true.

"_Now you sound like me the first time I ran into you. All those colors but your damn red scarf and blue eyes are what have always stuck with me."_

"Listen to you… listen to me I mean you are my hallucination after all. A world without color? This isn't some cheesy horror movie or gothic soap opera, or hell this isn't the land Dorothy came from in OZ, this is reality and I am damn well trying to be a part of!" His laughter had an edge of insanity to it. "I maybe failing quite horribly it yes...but I do want to be a part of the real world."

"_The Jeff I knew would be so disappointed that a version of him didn't believe in all the realms which are out there to be traveled. And yes I have to say I did prefer Oz over my dreary world even with the flying monkeys and wicked witch."_

Jefferson laughed again only this time it seemed more like his old self. "You only liked Oz because they all thought you were a powerful wizard. I know you love your science Vic but tell me you didn't enjoy pretending to be a wizard."

"_Well science only got us so far, your hat and bag of tricks did the rest."_

"Those shape-shifting winged monkeys were the worst thing we ever ran into." Jefferson bend over picking up Belle's Journal. He wasn't sure why he was walking around with this old thing. _There is something I need to do, something to figure out. What should I do with it?_ He ruffled the pages trying to remember what he was going to do with it.

"_How many days has it been since you have been here?" Victor asked from behind him._

"Since Regina came here to become Mayor? It's been little less than two years."

"_No that is a lie and you know it. How long have you been having nightmares?"_

"Since the night of the accident…" Jefferson quickly shook his head. "Since the night Aurora died." He paused a moment thinking about it. "No that isn't even right; since Prince James tortured me, but they weren't nightmares like the way they are here." He licked his lips. "Doctor Hopper said…"

"_Doctor Hopper, please." _Victor shook his head disappointing._ "He's not a real Doctor, I on the other hand am."_

Jefferson laughed and the ghostly doppelgänger of his friend came over placing a hand on his shoulder.

"_When is the last time you left this house?"_

Jefferson thought and he couldn't recall.

"_You can't remember leaving this place because you have never left this house. You haven't so much as opened a window! How long have you really been here Jeff? How many nightmares?"_

"No it's crazy...Magic?" He shook his head backing away from his friend. "Magic isn't real!"

"_I once told you that Magic is just unexplained science! Come on now, you have figured it out because I know it and as you said I am just a part of you. So just say it out loud already."_

Jefferson mind flashed back to his horrible mornings as he picked up a pencil from the coffee table. "Six Nightmares. I have been here only six days. But Doc how is that possible?"

"_Regina is a witch, and evil one at that. You are the expert on magic Jefferson you tell me how did she cursed us all to his land?"_

"I am crazy…" He toyed with the pencil against the notebook page.

"_No you my friend are the only one who knows the whole truth."_

"Let me guess, you want me to write everything down and keep records on how long I am here to find a way to break his curse?" _A curse, is that really what all this is?_ Jefferson's mind raced._ Why I have two sets of memories?_

"_Yes of course, you will lose track of time and the facts if you don't write them down." Victor encouraged him. _

"Yes you always did go all mad scientist when it came to writing down your findings."

"_Well since we both agree I will let you be to start." _

Jefferson watched as Victor disappeared. _This is crazy._ He thought as he started to write down the first nightmare starting with the date.

* * *

Jefferson had spent the rest of the day writing down his nightmares, and working on a new hat in his workroom. He placed the finished hat on the piano bench before he went into the kitchen to start his and Regina's dinner. He was just finishing up when Regina rang the doorbell.

He greeted her with a smile and took her black jacket. He noticed how Regina was dress all in black tonight except her red scarf. His eyes couldn't help but drift down to her legs in her tight mini skirt and high black boots. He hung up her coat as she walked into the living room. He watched her freeze as she noticed the hat on the piano bench.

_She recognizes the hat._ He thought but out loud he asked. "How was your day, Madam Mayor?"

"Terrible." She muttered still staring down at his hat, before picking it up looking it over and tossing it on to the couch before she turned back to him. "Please tell me dinner is ready, and there is wine." She rubbed her hands on her arms and added. "Lots of wine."

"The answer to all three is yes." He still stood in the foyer and pointed towards the kitchen. "After you."

They ate dinner in silence both lost in their own thoughts. Jefferson's about what was real and what wasn't. _Did Regina recognize the hat because my memories are true, or was it because I have made a hat like it before claiming to be able to travel worlds with it? _

And Regina's mind was dealing with the fact that she had just lost Owen and what she was going to have to do with his father. So when Jefferson finally asked his question she was caught off guard.

"Do you know where my hat is?"

"Your hat?" Regina raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you check your closet?"

"Yes… the one I am looking for isn't there."

"The one you are looking for?" She raised an eyebrow at him across the table.

"It looks like the one the was on the piano bench when you came in." He looked up from his plate to watch her face. "The one you picked up and played with before tossing it on to the couch."

Regina smirked. "You made a hat to look just like the one you were missing but yet you still want the other one?"

"I think we both know why I am looking for the other one."

Regina narrowed her eyes, nodding her head at him. "Oh, I see now. I had a horrible day dealing with Kurt and Owen…"

"Kurt and Owen?"

"The outsiders, alright?" Regina hissed. "So let just get this fight over with already, I am so ready to be done with this day." Regina lowered her fork. "So tell me who did you see you today? Which of your imagery friends filled your head with nonsense today?"

"Victor Frankenstein …" He drummed his fingers on the table top.

"Victor Frankenstein?" Regina laughed.

"What is so funny?" Jefferson growled.

"My dear Jefferson you sound crazier than normal, leaving behind your Fairy Tale characters for horror movie characters are we? Next thing you will be telling me you know Dracula and the Wolfman as well." She stood up. "I think I will be leaving now."

"Yes I think that is for the best." He continued to drum his fingers on the table top as she stormed past him. Having second thoughts he called out. "Regina please stop!" He followed her to the door stopping her. "I am sorry it just feels like I am two people at once and both people are fighting for control. All day it just goes around and around and I am not sure which one I should let win control."

Regina pulled back from him fixing her coat. "Go take your pills and get some sleep Jefferson. Think about what you want out of this new life, because if you can't be what I want then I won't be coming up here each night." Regina opened the door.

"You are the only thing that I know is real. Even if you are this Evil Queen you are still the only thing that is real in my life."

Regina looked conflicted for a moment but she quickly regained control "You helped make me into what I am Jefferson. You should have thought better of your past actions and you damn well better think about how you want to move forward. Just how alone with your ghosts do you want to be?"

**Author's Note: The Nightmare Flashback can be read in full in my other story The Ties That Bind Us in Chapter Forty-Two. Hook kidnapping Aurora and Jefferson can be found in full in Chapter Sixty-Two of The Ties That Bind Us. Aurora fixing up the house in Neverland can be found in full in Chapter Fifty-Four of The Ties That Bind Us. Jefferson's and Aurora's escape from Rumple's Castle can be found in full in Chapter Thirty-Four and Thirty-Five of The Ties That Bind Us. And lastly Jefferson's ordeal with Prince James can be read in the story Breaking The Hatter. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven – Day Seven **

"_And that is how the curse would work." Regina finished with a whisper as she stared across the room her eyes focused on the brightly burning fire in the fireplace." Her and Jefferson were naked under her fancy sheets, and she was leaning back on his chest. _

_His arm trailed up hers moving her long dark hair to the side so he could whisper in her ear. "And would I be there too?" _

"_Of course, it is to be my happy ending, we would be married."_

"_Married?" Jefferson laughed. _

"_What don't you like that idea?"_

_He felt Regina stiffen in his arms. "Not if our wedding is just a false memory. I mean it is one thing to take a wedding day from a man, but to miss the wedding night." He playfully nibbled at her ear before finishing. "Now that would be just down right cruel."_

"_Well, I could just have us engaged and we could have all the fun of planning the wedding and the wedding night."_

"_As interesting as all that would be, this whole curse is a terrible idea your majesty." He told her as his fingers traced over her bare shoulders. _

"_Terrible idea why?" Regina turned slightly pulling the covers close to her chest._

"_Well first of all the level of dark magic needed to create such a spell would be a cost too high to pay, it would change you. And I happen to like you just the way you are. All this curse talk makes me think you are spending too much time with Rumple."_

"_Me spending too much time with him? You live with him."_

"_Yes but I am his business partner not his student."_

_Now it was Regina's turn to laugh. "Please, you have been his student since you were a kid if he has damaged one of us it is clearly you. Besides the whole idea of any curse is it isn't supposed to be fun for the people you want to get revenge on." _

"_That's true enough; I am not arguing that simple fact. But this idea you have has you living the same day over and over again too. Even if it was a good day you would soon grow weary of it. People may say they don't like change but without it we would all go mad."_

_Regina laughed again._

"_Don't believe it my Queen? How about this for example." He moved back behind her pulling her closer as he talked. "What if I were to come in here and do everything we just did and do that over and over again for the rest of time."_

"_It feels like you want to do what we just did again all ready." Regina smiled as she felt Jefferson's body against her._

"_You know I don't like to waste our time together, since I don't get to see you every night. And don't get me wrong you are great fun; it always is with you my dear, but nothing changing repeating the same day in and day out. You would soon grow bored with me."_

"_Jefferson I could never grow bored with you."_

"_Oh it may take a few months if you are lucky but you would. Now if you were going to truly punish someone you should have it that they remember and are stuck watching the day over and over again as everyone else doesn't realize it is repeating. That would be a terrible Hell to live in." Jefferson shuddered at the thought. "Though I am not sure anyone could have wronged you in a way that would desire such punishment, not even Snow."_

"_Oh Snow will get what is coming to her, don't you worry." She smiled at him before she leaned back to kiss him._

Jefferson jerked back from her kiss waking up in his bed seeing the clock blinking 8:15 am. Beside the clock was a copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales.

"The same day over and over again. That evil witch did it! She cursed us all to her happily ending and for some reason she picked me to receive the worst punishment instead of Snow? What the fuck Regina?" He yelled at the empty room as it flashed from his modern bedroom to the one he had shared with Alice.

He stood up walking over the window and looked down at the town. "Well two can play this game Regina you made a mistake of making these rooms change between this reality and the past. Everything I need is in Rumple's Tower Room."

* * *

Jefferson was smelling powders and herbs in the little glass jars he had pulled from the potion rack when he heard the crash behind him. He turned to see Aurora falling to the floor. She was out of breath like she had been running and it appeared like she had hit the table knocking some mixing bowls to the floor with her.

Jefferson was at her side before he could even get out her name helping her to her feet.

"How did I get here again?" she asked him her eyes wide with terror. "That beast whatever it is was chasing me again and …"

"Nothing is chasing you Aurora. You are safe here with me. There is no one else in the house but me."

"I don't understand how I can be here with you. The curse…"

Jefferson fought the urge to argue about how she was dead and hadn't lived long enough to marry him let alone for the Dream Curse to take effect, but he thought better of it and simply led her over to towards the lab table where they had spent more hours than they could count together.

"Don't worry about that now, I am glad you are here I need your help to mix up a special powder."

"Since when do you need my help to make a simple powder?"

"Since I am a little more than out of practice; I haven't made a truth powder in at least seven years." He held up two jars. "I know I am forgetting something, was it a dash of this or was a dash of this one?"

"Seriously?" Aurora looked him questionly. "You aren't lying you are out of practice. It isn't either of those." She moved past him to the shelf "Rumple usually kept it up here. She reached up pointing to a jar which was just out of her reach.

Jefferson moved over behind her reaching up and pulling it down. "It is a good thing my brain imagined you when it did or else this potion would not have worked tonight."

"Imagined me?" Aurora huffed. "Please it is me who is imagining you. I don't know why my brain keeps mocking me and making it seem like you are still alive. This Dream Curse gets worse by the day. Or at least what I take as a day, but that is really just an educated guess at this point. I no longer have any idea how long it has been since Maleficent struck me with that bloody needle."

Jefferson smirked at her; he had missed how she had always tried to logically explain things for which she didn't understand_. I would love to believe that she was still alive, just sleeping in the Enchanted Forest waiting to be woken up by a simple kiss, even if it is her Prince and not me who will do the waking_._ I would gladly give her up just for her to still be alive_. He thought sadly.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?"

"Because you always did hate not knowing something, or not being in control of the situation. I told you just like I told Belle, there are things in life which your books wouldn't prepare you for."

She couldn't help but smile back at him. "Well one of us had to read and worry about things." She teased him back as she watched him mixed the ingredients together and ground them into a fine white powder. She moved closer "So who is this truth powder for?"

"Regina."

"Regina? Why are you talking to that witch, after everything she has done to us?"

"Trust me it isn't by my choice to talk to her, but with this I can finally find out what is real." He poured a little into a tiny glass vial holding it up to the light.

"Did you steal that from Victor's lab?"

Jefferson laughed. "If everything I remember is true then yes I did."

Aurora gave him puzzled look. "Why are you using that vial, and not your ring?"

"I… I don't know where my ring is." He lied. He felt his cheeks grow warm at the outright lie. He had sold his rings and many other of his expensive things to help pay for food and other things Grace had needed growing up. He felt suddenly embarrassed by the fact that he couldn't easily supply Grace with what she had needed.

"You don't know where it is? Seriously… " Aurora started to look around the work area for it. "what is up with you? I know you are a hallucination but seriously not knowing where one of your most valuable tools are?" She moved some papers off to the side and spotted the ring. "Here it is!" she beamed turning to face him.

"What?" Jefferson asked in shocked. "It is here?"

"Yes, I found it." She walked over to him taking the tiny vial and filling the ring

"You found it."

"Yes I did now are you going to stand there repeating everything I say or are you going to let me put it on your finger?" he held out his right hand and she slipped it on to him. "There now don't lose this again, alright?" She asked looking up into his eyes.

He gave her a soft smile. "I promise I won't lose it, Rory." A part of him knew she wasn't really there but he lifted her chin and leaned down to kiss her.

But at the last second she pulled back looking over her shoulder. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"It's back… Jefferson it's back…and it wants to kill me." She pulled away from him looking around the room trying to see where the monster was going to come from. "I don't have my magic I won't be able to stop it if it gets me."

"Then run!" Jefferson ordered. She looked at him her eyes wide with fear. "Run Aurora and don't stop until you lose it again." She gave a quick nod as she turned to run and Jefferson watched as she disappeared from the room.

He stood there a moment tears playing at his eyes. His left hand played with the ring on his finger. "This is real… I am cursed here and seeing Aurora is just one of the side effects, she is dead. That is what is real." With one last look at Rumple's Tower Room he turned and walked down the stairs to go prepare for dinner.

* * *

After dinner Regina and Jefferson moved into the living room. He had been carefully to not bring attention to his ring all throughout dinner now as he moved to refill her glass he let her see it.

"Where did you find that ring?" Regina asked nervously eyeing it as he refilled her glass.

"It was up in Rumple's Tower Room, but come now Regina you know that as well as you remember what I would use it for; don't you?"

"You…" She looked at her wine glass. "Did you drug me?"

"You are going to tell me the truth Regina, there is no holding back tonight." He sat down beside her on the couch moving closer to her. "I saw to that when I slipped a little something into your wine earlier."

Jefferson watched as she squirmed up against the arm of the sofa uncomfortably as she realized all power had shifted from her to him.

"You aren't really a Mayor. Oh sure you have leadership skills but I am sure you still prefer the title of Queen to Mayor. It has only been a week and I can see the fun as worn off already. So much for happy endings am I correct Your Majesty."

"Stop it. You know I told you not to call me that."

"Yes, why did you do that? I mean you always did like to remind everyone else that was Your Majesty."

Regina glared at him but didn't answer.

"Come now Regina why so quite tonight. You seem to have liked the fact that I am the only one who stands up to you this past week. I am the only one who is any challenge to you, who questions you in this town."

"So you finally figure it out did you Jefferson?" Regina smirked. "I have to say I am a bit disappointed in you. It took a week for you to piece it all together. Your time in Wonderland really messed with you. You used to be much quicker than this. " She lowered her wine glass on to the coffee table in front of her.

"Are you saying everything I have been telling you all week is real?" Jefferson leaned back from her in shock. He really didn't think the conversation would go this way. "The powder I placed in your wine worked?"

"Oh the powder is worthless." Regina laughed. "Did you seriously think I would give you real supplies to create your own magic here in Storybrooke? I think not. I saw to it that I am the only one with that kind of power here."

"If the powder didn't work then why tell me the truth now?"

"Because you are right. You are the only challenge to me here. The only one who questions me. Who can and will fight with me. I lied earlier when you asked about me about Graham. Yes we are sleeping together."

"You are sleeping with the HUNTSMAN?" Jefferson pulled back from her even further, suddenly filled with anger and he wasn't sure why he was so mad at this fact. It had been years before the curse since he had had any romantic feelings for Regina but he was furious just the same. "That backwoods flea ridden want to be wolf? By Gods Regina next thing you know you will be fucking Robin Hood."

"Well after this conversation I sure as hell won't be FUCKING YOU!" She screamed getting to her feet.

"No, you most certainly will not!" He yelled matching her tone as he got to his feet. "How did you do it? How did you bring us all here? Why aren't they rebelling in the streets?"

"Because they don't remember who they are. They all have new names, and memories. Like you said everyone looks up to me here, this is my happy ending."

"Rumple."

"Even your precious Rumplestiltskin lost to me in the end Jefferson."

"Then that means Grace, Alice, Aurora, Victor, Belle… and Rumplestiltskin, are all real."

"Well two out of the six are dead. But I am guessing knowing that fact doesn't make them seem any less real when you see or talk with them. Tell me how did the conversations with them go? Did they both blame you for their untimely deaths?" Regina moved closer to him as she mocked him.

Jefferson stood his ground against her but he whispered. "I didn't kill them."

"Did Belle blame you for her being locked up all these years?"

Jefferson felt his shoulders shake as tried to keep it together in front of Regina. "You know I had no other choice." He hissed.

Regina circled him as she continued. "No with Belle you really didn't; but stealing Aurora way from the safety of Rumple's Castle, and taking Alice on a job in Wonderland, stealing from the new Queen of Hearts. And as if that is bad enough you go and leave Grace to go back to that horrid place with me." She shook her head disapprovingly.

He stood there fluming at her comments. "I did everything I could to keep them safe and alive. And you know I would never have left Grace… you betrayed me!"

"I betrayed you?" Regina laughed. "Please you betrayed me years before I ever got a chance to start my revenge."

"Started your revenge, you mean you aren't going to let me out now that I figured it out?"

"Let you go?" Regina laughed. "You and I are the only ones in the whole town who know the truth. No one would believe you even if I did. Your beloved Doctor Frankenstein would lock you up in a tiny padded cell. Don't you think this huge mansion is a much better living arrangement for the rest of time?"

"Rest of time? How did you create this spell? To cast this kind of dark magic, you would have had to kill…" He trailed off not wanting to think about it.

"I killed my father."

"You what?" Jefferson asked appalled.

"I used you to find the one thing I loved most in the world." She forced herself to swallow thinking about how close she had been to using Jefferson's own heart that day. "Then I killed it to create my happy ending."

"Regina this is ridiculous you have magic so you can fix this. There is no other magic here… it's basically the same day over and over again. You get a kick out of it now, but it is starting to lose its effect already, this will drive you mad."

"Don't attempt to worm your way out of this Jefferson. You will not be able to talk your way out of this one with that golden tongue of yours. But as you have found out I gave you plenty of instruments so at least you will have something around that you can still manipulate." Her fingers trailed over the keys on the piano. "I even gave you all the storybooks from this world that you crisscrossed during your portal jumping days. Sure they won't be quite the stories you used to tell Grace…"

Jefferson stood there in shock at Regina's confession, finally finding his voice at her Grace comment. "Why… why would you do this to me? Out of everyone I would have thought Snow…"

"The fact that you have to ask shows you deserve this punishment."

"Punishment? This is beyond punishment, these duel memories, the rooms changing every time I open the doors."

"What you don't like the double rooms? Not knowing what you are going to see behind each door you open? I thought you loved all the different worlds the doors in your precious hat could take you to."

Jefferson stood there shaking his head in disbelieve.

"Look at you, you are not even sorry at all are you?"

"Sorry?" Jefferson hissed. "You have ruined my life more times than I can count and you expect me to be sorry for something I did to you?" He yelled.

"Maybe one day it will all fall" she mocked falling with her fingers, "into place." Regina hissed before she walked over to the door.

"What about Grace?"

Regina turned. "Don't worry Jefferson, I swore to you that your daughter would want for nothing, and I kept my word. She is living with your old neighbors. The very ones you left her with that day."

Jefferson stood there clutching his fingers tightly.

"You have your telescopes; you can keep an eye on her if you don't believe she is getting everything she could possibly desire, but unlike you they can provide for her."

"I get that you want to punish me for something you think I did to you or that you want to make Snow suffer, but why are you doing this to everyone else?"

"To win the game."

"This isn't a game Regina this is life."

"There is no bigger game then life and I my dear Jefferson, am finally winning it." She turned starting for the steps.

"Wait…Wait…please Regina you can't do this to me." He screamed rushing to the door grabbing it as she walked through.

"I can't?" Regina turned facing him. "Go ahead and try to leave Jefferson." She stepped aside waving to the steps down from his front porch.

Jefferson tried to cross the threshold of his house but he hit a spell barrier. "What?" He muttered before pounding on it with this fist. "Regina!" He screamed.

She leaned in closer to him but was careful to stay on her side of the doorway. "See Jefferson, I can, I will and I have." She turned and started down the steps towards her car.

Jefferson just stood there suddenly realizing the prefect hell Regina had created for him. So far from town but unable to leave, trapped without his hat but cursed to never know what was behind the next door he opened, so close to his daughter but unable to go to her, stuck with all the ghost of his past for the rest of time and as if that wasn't enough she gave him both his real and fake memories to torment him.

It was his daughter's voice coming from behind him which made him turn around. He saw her ghostly image standing there in the hallway.

"_This has to do with the Queen's visit doesn't it? Whatever she wants you to do don't do it. All I need is you Papa." _

"Grace!" He shouted as she disappeared. Jefferson raced back into the living room picking up the piano bench. He turned and threw it through the front window. The glass broke and he rushed to climb through the window but he once again hit the magical barrier.

Regina turned and shook her head slowly at him "Did you really think it would be that easy?" she called back up to him before continuing to walk back down the drive to the road where she had parked her car. His screams filling her head for many nights afterwards.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 - Day Eight **

"_I told you I deliver." He smugly commented playing with his hat as he walked behind Regina right before a gate came crashing down blocking their only exit from her mother's vault. "No!"_

"_Mother!" Regina complained._

"_How lovely." He stated letting go of the bars as the walls started moving towards the center of the room._

"_Your majesty!" Victor shrieked. "I'd say we need to find a way out." _

"_Jefferson your hat." Regina ordered._

"_Your mother's spells on the vault won't let me!" He huffed putting on his hat as he tried to push the moving wall back into place. _

_Regina tried to focus her magic._

"_What are you doing?" Victor asked panic filling his voice_

"_Trying to get us out of here." Regina explained squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to cast the spell. _

_Victor looked around the room which was getting smaller by the second. Spotting a statue at the far end of the vault he called over. "Jeff." Pointing at the statue he added. "A little help?"_

_He rushed over to help Victor move the statue laying it on it's side to stop the walls from closing in on them. He straightened up readjusting his hat on his head. "Nice thinking Doc."_

"_Thank you." Victor managed to get out as he dusted himself off, but the three of them only had a moment's rest before the ceiling of the vault started to come down on top of them. "Come on, now what?" Victor screamed._

"_Your Majesty!" He waved his hands at Regina to use her magic to get them out. He watched as she tried but failed again as the ceiling came closer and closer moving them down towards the ground. _

"_I am trying!" Regina shouted back trying to summon the spell to save them all._

"_Come on try harder! Your Majesty come on! Your Majesty!" He screamed grabbing ahold of his hat as he crouched down on the ground._

Jefferson woke with a rush of adrenaline from his nightmare. He looked around seeing his modern looking bedroom instead of the Regina's mother's vault. "This is worst then my nightmare, at least in my nightmare Regina got us out. Here she has me trapped forever."

"_No not forever, there is always a way out if you are smart enough or resourceful enough." _

Jefferson spun around towards the voice of his friend, seeing Victor's ghost standing on the other side of the room.

"_You taught me that lesson on one of our first trips together."_

"I know you are real but you are not really here. You are just a part of this curse; Regina's sick twisted little joke on me. You are just a hallucination, a figment of my imagination."

"_I most defiantly am a figment of your imagination but that doesn't mean I don't speak the truth. There is no reason for you to not let me help you. For example all these hallucinations have helped you figure out how much you are in over your head here."_

"Oh yes, I am in over my head stuck here without any magic so what do you suggestion good Doctor Frankenstein?"

"_Well you have already started writing things down so you will remember everything which happens during your time here, but those memories are not the only thing which needs to be documented. What about everyone else who is stuck down in that dull little town. Don't you think their tales need to be remembered as well?"_

"You always did give me too much credit Victor. I know a lot of things, about a lot of people, but I don't know everyone's story down in that fake little town."

"_But you know enough to record a history of our time."_

"Why does it matter if I record our history?"

"_Because magic comes from a base of power there has to be something to keep it going. This world doesn't have magic on its own. Regina can't create new magic here. She can only use what she has brought with her. This curse and the magic powering it Regina can't keep it going for ever."_

Jefferson stood there a moment before he slowly shook his head in agreement. "Writing everything down would at the very least give me something to do to pass the time. This spell is powerful but a spell can't last forever." He laughed. "Even if she did bring over her vault and she has access to magic she will eventually run out of her sources and you are right she can't create new magic here in this realm; no one can."

"_And when she runs out and the curse starts to fall apart you can be ready."_

"Yes, I can get my daughter back." He felt himself flash a cocky smile across the room at the ghostly image of his friend. "Nice thinking Doc."

* * *

Jefferson spent most of his day up in the attic with his telescope drawing a very rough outline of the town. He planned on using all the cartography skills his father had taught him to going back over it, adding in details and making sure to calculate in the correct distances at a later date. He would definitely take special care to make note of all the ways to successfully maneuver through town for when he could finally escape his prison on the hill.

For if there was one thing he did realize it was he had plenty of time to learn the layout and the ins and outs of the brainwashed people down in Storybrooke, because sadly he knew it would be quite some time before the curse's power would fade and start to crack.

But he also reminded himself with time frozen he wouldn't have to worry about Grace or himself growing older. That fact was the only real plus of this whole cursed life. For when it did break he would have his daughter back and she would have barely aged from when he left her with the neighbors in the Enchanted Forest that day Regina tricked him into going to Wonderland.

That night over dinner while he looked over the rough outline of the town he was visited by another ghostly reminder of his past; Alice.

"_I can see the wheels in your head turning; you always were sexy when coming up with a plan." _She walked across the room coming up behind him and draped her arms over his shoulders.

Jefferson knew she wasn't really there but he could almost feel her arms wrapped around him. He closed his eyes remembering a time when they could touch each other as much as they wanted too.

"I am going to get our daughter back. It may take time but no matter what Regina thinks she can't keep Grace away from me; forever."

"_Yes it is good to see you calmed down and finally thinking clearly." _She leaned closer giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Jefferson grew stiff for a moment wishing what he felt was real instead of just a faded memory.

"_Magic like this can't last forever." _Alice whispered in his ear._ "Curses always have ways to be broken."_

"Yes and with Rumple down in that town acting just like one of the other drones just buzzing around I am sure this one does have an expiration date. But Rumple is over three hundred years old; he has spent most of that time waiting for the right time to finally get his son back, so time is not important to him. Who knows how long he will let Regina think she has won, until his opportune moment arrives and he can spring whatever plan he has into action."

"_No matter how long it is, you know to you it will seem longer. Your day resets like theirs but your memories don't. Time will move very slowly for you my love, I hope you can keep focused and not lose your mind like you did in Wonderland."_

Jefferson stood up shaking her off of him as if she was really there. "This is nothing like Wonderland. I can at least see Grace here and know she is alright. Like you said and Regina pointed out she is being take care of. I am just beyond grateful for however long the curse does last, she doesn't remember me and long or worry for me like she must have all those months I was lost in Wonderland; for it is the not knowing part which truly drove me crazy."

"_Yes it is strange to think that her not remembering either of us is a blessing_." Alice quietly whispered as she moved closer to the table to look at the map he had been working on.

"Well I have always had to count my blessing where I could." He moved forward taking her hand in his. "I swear to you Alice, no matter how long it takes I will make this right again." He raised her hand to his lips giving her a kiss. "I will make sure our daughter comes home where she belongs."

**Author's Note: The nightmare in this chapter is a deleted scene from "The Doctor" Season Two Episode Five. It is pretty much just like the end of the deleted scene on the DVD but with one little change because I never liked Jefferson's line about he couldn't use his hat because there wasn't enough room, that just doesn't fit my AU. If you haven't seen it I suggest you youtube it; Chamber of Hearts - Deleted Scene from 2x05, they really should have kept it in the episode.**


End file.
